Brotherhood detain three during clashes in Alexandria

Sameh Mashaly of Al Dostour Party, was detained along with two other protesters in Alexandria by Muslim Brotherhood members (Public Domain Photo)

Three men were apprehended by members of the Muslim Brotherhood and taken to the police station to be arrested on Friday in Alexandria.

Haitham El-Hariri, a spokesperson for Al-Dostour Party in Alexandria, reported that Sameh Mashaly and Mohamed Samir, members of Al-Dostour, and Islam El-Hadry, a member of the Lazem campaign, were taken to a police station by members of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Mohamed Soudan, spokesperson for the Freedom and Justice Party in Alexandria confirmed El-Hariri’s statement. “We called the police and they didn’t come. They have guns and Molotov cocktails. If the police will not come then we have to do something, so we put the protesters in a car,” Soudan said.

According to El-Hariri, the violence began when an anti-Brotherhood and anti- Morsi march encountered members of the Brotherhood near Sidi Gaber train station.

Soudan reported that the protesters were “thugs and socialists” and said that they were armed with “guns, Molotov cocktails and other weapons”. “They are scaring the children and the girls in the street, and people are scared to walk past them,” he added. He also reported that a journalist from Rasd had been injured during the clashes. At the time of writing Soudan reported that the protesters had also blocked the railway lines in both directions.

El-Hariri said that he was not sure why these three men were arrested, although he believes it is part of an on-going Brotherhood campaign. “The revolution is going the same way it did in Iran, the Brotherhood are intentionally trying to stall the revolution,” he said.

Soudan said members of the Brotherhood were mobilised to protect the headquarters if the protesters attempted to attack it. “Every Friday people protest about anything. They were meant to be protesting against the prosecutor general but now they are chanting against Morsi and the Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood,” he added.

Official spokesperson for the Brotherhood, Mahmoud Ghozlan had earlier denied that the Brotherhood “arrested” anti-Brotherhood demonstrators in a letter to Al-Shorouk newspaper.